Heavenly Daze, starring the Three Stooges

Heavenly Daze – starring the Three Stooges (Moe, Larry and Shemp), originally released September 2, 1948

Heavenly Daze is a very funny, and somewhat different, Three Stooges short film. It begins with a deceased Shemp at the gates of Heaven, being interviewed by his uncle Mortimer (played by Moe Howard). It appears that Shemp’s name is not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and he is about to look for his “red pitchfork and asbestos suit” when Uncle Mortimer gives him a second chance … it turns out that Shemp’s cousins Moe and Larry are also in trouble, and if Shemp can return to Earth as an invisible ghost and turn them to the path of righteousness, he can return to Heaven for good. After a run-in with a rain cloud, Shemp is on his way.

At the same time, Moe and Larry are mourning the death of Shemp at the law offices of I. Fleecem (Vernon Dent), a crooked lawyer who tries to steal the boys’ minor inheritance from Shemp. Some funny moments occur as Moe, in a manner reminiscent of Bud Abbott, tries to fleece Larry but fails due to Shemp’s ghostly interference. The boys realize that Shemp’s ghost is among them, but that’s not enough to turn them from the scheme that they’ve cooked up. They use Shemp’s money to rent a fancy apartment, tuxedos, and a butler — all in order to fleece a wealthy couple (Victor Travers, Symona Boniface) out of $50,000 to “invest” in Moe’s invention -a fountain pen that writes under whipped cream.

Shemp’s ghost drives away their butler (Sam McDaniel), and then makes a slapstick end to the whipped cream mixing, ending with everyone being hit in the face with whipped cream – and Larry being stabbed in the forehead with a fountain pen! Shemp thinks that he’s earned his way into Heaven, when he starts feeling warmer … fire! It turns out that the entire event has been a dream sequence, where Shemp has fallen asleep smoking in bed.

Mr. DePuyster: You look like you’ve seen a ghost.
Butler: Mister, you don’t know the half of it.

Trivia about Heavenly Daze

During the filming of the stunt where the fountain pen flies through the air and lands in Larry’s forehead, despite the director’s guarantee that everything was safe, the stunt when wrong and the pen actually was painfully embedded in Larry’s forehead – leaving to Larry screaming and chasing the director around the room